food for lovers. of food.

Day 5: In which Jessica is better than Popeye.

That’s right, I said it. Because you know what’s better than spinach? Kale. Kale all the way. And you know what’s even better than just cooked kale (if that is the equivalent of what Popeye was eating out of those cans)? Raw kale. Uh-huh. I’m one-upping left and right here.

Anyway. Raw kale salad is super healthy for you and it’s easy to make and it’s crazy delicious. I’ve blogged about it before, but not recently, so it’s time to re-issue the news about how rad it is.

i know, yummy right?

Ok, maybe that’s not the best representation because I put it in a green bowl and it was sort of dark and I was probably starving and not caring much about the photo that day. When I get hungry, I get irrational, and dumb stuff happens. (seriously, ask the omnivore boyfriend.)

Now, if you’re like I was before I’d ever had raw kale, you’re thinking ‘gross’, but it’s really not, I swear. It’s so fresh tasting! I like it when something tastes ‘healthy’ though. Sometimes. I’m not going to deny that I will totally down a plateful of tots with ketchup. But other times, you just want something that feels like it revitalizes you to eat it. And this salad does that. Want a recipe? Ha, nice try, you know I’m terrible at that. But I will give you a rundown:

Raw Kale Salad

1 medium bunch of kale

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (about 2 teaspoons)

sprinkling of salt

1/2 an avocado

juice from 1 small lemon

1 tsp of your favorite vinegar

cracked pepper (and more salt) to taste

whatever add-ins you like (strawberries are amazing in this!)

Method:

Ok, so wash your kale and tear it up into small bits (de-veining it) and put it in a bowl. Try to get most of the water off of it (I just squeeze mine out, you’re going to bruise it up anyway). Add the olive oil and some salt, then massage the kale with your bare mitts until it looks all wilty and limp and dark green. Add the avocado and lemon juice, massage it some more until the leaves are coated in the avocado. Then add the vinegar, pepper, additional salt, and whatever add-ins you are using, stir it up, and enjoy!

Seriously so easy. It takes me about 5 minutes to make. That’s a single serving, by the way. The kale shrinks a lot as you massage it, just like it does when you cook it on the stove top.